A Future that Will Never Be
by leiasky
Summary: Sam has just returned from Atlantis and is vacationing with Jack up at the cabin when they are joined by the rest of SG-1. Jack and Sam learn something about a future only Teal’c remembers. . . This fic assumes SJ have been together since Threads.
1. Part 1

**SYNOPSIS**: Sam has just returned from Atlantis and is vacationing with Jack up at the cabin when they are joined by the rest of SG-1. Jack and Sam learn something about a future only Teal'c remembers. . .

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Thanks for polrobin (check out her fics on this site!) for the rockin' beta.

There will be 6 parts to this. They're all written so it's just a matter of posting them all.

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**A Future that Will Never Be**

**Part 1**

Sam rolled onto her back with a breathless moan and grinned satisfactorily at the sated, somewhat dazed, look on Jack's face. She rubbed her cheek against his damp arm and inhaled slowly, enjoying the mingled scent of sweat, sex and his unique spicy aftershave.

"Are you sure it's ok?" she asked but all she got in response was a barely audible grunt.

She felt guilty for exhausting him with sex and _then_ asking but she wasn't above using her womanly wiles to avoid an argument - or get him to agree to something he otherwise might have vetoed – in that oh-so-loveable unique style she'd come to love – and hate.

"I mean – it's been so long-"

"Said it was fine," he interrupted with a sleepy yawn.

Sam opened her mouth to continue but clamped it shut again when he rolled over and buried his face in her neck. The arm on which she was laying tightened under her shoulder and his other slid across her stomach to wrap around her waist. His restless fingers, always in constant motion, massaged circles across her bare skin.

She pressed her lips against his damp forehead and allowed a satisfied smile to pass across her face at his possessive embrace. She'd missed this. More than she was ready to admit to any living soul at the moment. Satisfied with his response, she tangled her legs with his and allowed herself to begin to drift off to sleep.

"But did you really have to invite them up here a week after you've been gone for a year?"

Sam lifted her head and looked down at him. His eyes were still closed and she squinted to see if she could see any sort of annoyance written on his chiseled features. If she hadn't known him so well, she'd have thought he was angry, but she noticed the twitch of an eyebrow and a slight upturn at the corner of his mouth and knew he'd turned the tables on her and used her nervous anticipation to catch her off guard. She lightly slapped his shoulder.

"Funny, Jack."

One eye popped open and regarded her without blinking. The action caused a sliver of insecurity to tighten in her chest and she leaned back down so that her face was even with his. Her fingers absently stroked the damp hair at his nape.

"Jack-"

The eyelid slid shut again. "I said it was fine."

Sam sighed and resisted the urge to crawl out from under him and settle a safe upcoming-argument-distance away. "But it's not fine."

"Didn't say that."

"You didn't have to."

Sam swallowed nervously. She didn't want to argue with him. They'd just spent a blissful week and a half at the cabin with nothing to do but fish, sleep, hike, and have lots and lots of desperately missed sex. She'd hardly even missed Atlantis though she still smarted at the way she'd been removed from her first real command. He'd distracted her in the most innovative and pleasurable ways, and only now, when they were on the verge of being joined by their closest friends, was she unsure whether or not she should have even issued the invitation in the first place.

His voice was rough, with annoyance or sleep, Sam couldn't tell. "Haven't seen much of Danny and T in the last year. It's fine."

She'd known him long enough to read between the lines. "But you'd rather we spend the rest of the week up here alone."

Both eyes popped open and he leaned back quickly and looked down the naked length of her body. An eyebrow quirked and the shiver that raced down her body as his fingers danced across her hip forced her to bite her bottom lip to hold back the moan.

"Yeah."

Sam wrapped her arms around his shoulders and she leaned forward to press her lips to that sensitive point on his neck. "I promise to make it up to you," she whispered, her breath hot against his skin.

Suddenly, she found herself on her back with his long, hard body pressed into her soft, feminine curves.

"You betcha you will."

TBC

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	2. Part 2

**SYNOPSIS**: Sam has just returned from Atlantis and is vacationing with Jack up at the cabin when they are joined by the rest of SG-1. Jack and Sam learn something about a future only Teal'c remembers. . .

**A Future that will Never Be**

**Part 2**

Vala slapped her cards down on the table with a smug grin and held out her hands. "Pay up, boys."

Jack rolled his eyes and quirked an eyebrow at Sam, who tried desperately to hide her smile. "You've created a monster."

Sam held up her hands in defense. "Wasn't me."

Cam leaned back in his chair and stretched out his hands when Jack glanced his way next. "Me either. I'm not crazy."

"Nope, Muscles here taught me," Vala said as she collected her winnings and began to stuff them into the pockets of the tacky fishing vest she'd refused to remove after they'd come in for the night.

Jack regarded Teal'c with a distasteful stare. "Teal'c. Buddy. What did I tell you about teaching the opposite sex how to play cards?"

He didn't miss the triumphant look Vala threw at Sam. He'd get an explanation for that suspicious smirk out of Sam later – in private.

"I don't recall you saying anything on the subject, O'Neill."

Jack frowned. He was growing forgetful in his old age. "Yeah, well, I should have."

"Indeed."

Jack leafed through his pile of bills and tossed them into the center of the table with a scowl. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Teal'c unobtrusively watching as Sam placed her cards face down along with her considerably smaller losing bet. Before Jack could question the appraisal, Vala had gathered the cards and begun to shuffle them.

Daniel snapped them out of her hands and Jack immediately turned his attention to their amusing exchange.

"You bend the cards. You're not allowed to deal," Daniel said with an annoyed huff and Jack couldn't help but laugh at the feigned hurt look that crossed the thief's face.

Teal'c suddenly stood and Jack could tell he'd just diverted what could have been a fairly entertaining argument between Daniel and Vala. "I believe more alcohol is necessary."

Jack waved his hand back toward the kitchen. "We've got plenty. Help yourself."

"He doesn't drink," Daniel said as he held the cards away from Vala's questing hands.

Jack snorted back laughter as he watched Vala unsuccessfully, though Jack was certain she just wasn't trying her hardest, try to get the deck of cards away from Daniel. "Spending a week up here with you two may change his mind."

Cam drained his bottle. "Ain't that the truth."

Sam chuckled beside him and he smugly leaned back in his chair and watched Vala slide her hand seductively down Daniel's chest. He dropped the deck instantly.

Vala winked at Sam and Jack had the distinct impression that's where Sam had learned certain _persuasive_ tricks. If _he'd_ fallen for them, lock, stock and barrel, _Daniel_ didn't stand a chance.

When Teal'c returned with four open bottles, Jack grinned at his friend. "I don't think Daniel can handle any more. I think he's reached his limit."

"One?" Sam asked with a soft huff of barely restrained laughter.

"He's a cheap date."

"Shut up, Jack." Daniel quickly took a long swig from the bottle Teal'c set beside him.

Jack slowly lifted his own recently-delivered bottle. "And just think, we have six more fun-filled nights to go." He glanced sideways at Sam, who beamed happily over at him as she oh-so-deliberately wrapped her lips around the bottle. He could feel his groin stir at the sight and he shifted in his chair. She'd done that on purpose and he was _so_ going to get her back for it.

On her other side, Jack noticed Teal'c take a slow sip from his own bottle.

_When had Teal'c started drinking?_

TBC

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	3. Part 3

**SYNOPSIS**: Sam has just returned from Atlantis and is vacationing with Jack up at the cabin when they are joined by the rest of SG-1. Jack and Sam learn something about a future only Teal'c remembers. . .

**A Future that will Never Be**

**Part 3**

Jack snapped the tongs out of Teal'c's hand and glared at the older, by nearly a century at this point, Jaffa. "I don't remember asking for help."

"Colonel Carter asked me to come out and observe," Teal'c stated calmly but Jack could tell that his friend was amused. Well, as amused as the stoic man ever got, that is.

He threw a disgusted look toward where Sam and Vala sat with their legs dangling over the wooden pier. "To make sure I didn't burn them, you mean?"

"I believe Colonel Carter's exact words were 'char beyond recognition.'"

Jack snorted indignantly and flipped a slab of beef over a bit more dramatically than he normally would, just to make a point. "I don't _always_ burn them."

Jack watched Teal'c's eyes slide toward the pier. "That is not what Colonel Carter-"

"She's not _always_ right, you know." Jack's pride dictated he interrupt, even though he knew the words were far from the truth – most of the time.

Teal'c didn't even bother to respond and Jack dramatically poured part of the contents of his bear over one particular slab of beef. As beer-scented smoke rose into the air, Teal'c gaze returned to the grill. Jack pointed the tongs at the sizzling slab and added with a smirk, "that one's yours."

The trademark eyebrow rose slightly and Teal'c inclined his head in acceptance of his 'punishment' for doubting the _Grill_ _Master_.

Jack smirked as movement by the pier distracted him from his task. He shook his head as Daniel crept closer to the two women; a mission Jack _knew_ would end in disaster. This was _Daniel_. It almost always did.

Sure enough, just as he reached down to push Vala into the pond with no fish, she leaned away and caught Daniel off balance. With a twist and a quick shove, he went head first into the water.

"Saw that comin'," Jack grinned at Teal'c, whose eyes were firmly fixed on Sam trying, and failing, to hold back her own laughter.

"Indeed it appears Daniel Jackson has not yet learned the way of stealth."

"You'd think he would, after all these years hanging out with you two," Cameron Mitchell walked out of the house with a plate full of raw steaks.

Jack just stared at him.

"What?" Cam asked innocently.

"Don't think we have enough already?" He inclined his head toward the grill currently full with half-cooked slabs of beef.

"Well, uh," Cam hedged and Jack narrowed his eyes with a frown.

"In case I burned them."

"I believe the phrase was," Teal'c began but Cam joined in, "char beyond recognition."

A loud splash distracted Jack from a colorful comment, and instead he yelled to his soggy friend, "Daniel! Get out of my pond! You'll scare away the fish!"

Jack's heart skipped a beat when Sam, wide smile and big, expressive eyes, turned around to look at him. "There are no fish in your pond, Jack." It didn't matter what came out of her mouth anymore, so long as she always looked at him that way.

Dimly, he heard his name being called.

"General?"

"O'Neill."

"What?" he blinked. She'd distracted him. Again.

"They're, uh," Cam motioned toward the plume of smoke rising from the grill.

Jack looked down and swore under his breath at the smoke billowing up from the grill. He quickly poured the contents of his bottle over the meat and scowled at the traitorous charred slabs.

When he looked up, Teal'c was watching him with a knowing expression.

Jack held up a warning finger. "Not a word."

"I do not believe one is needed."

Jack muttered beneath his breath as Sam approached all legs and brilliant, self-satisfied grin. He raised his tongs in a warning manner. "Don't even."

He got a whiff of her distinctly feminine shampoo when she leaned over to look at the meat. Maybe giving him control of the grill hadn't been such a good idea. Especially with her standing in front of him in _those_ skimpy shorts and tank top.

"Maybe we should go out to eat tonight?"

Her eyes sparkled mischievously at him and he felt the need to defend himself.

"It's your fault."

Sam hooked her hip to one side and gave him a smoldering head to toe appraisal that he felt slide straight to his groin. "Excuse me?"

"Yep." He shifted from one foot to the other as his pants tightened a bit too uncomfortably.

"How do you figure?"

Jack tossed a pleading look at Teal'c, who stood silently watching their exchange. He wouldn't even bother with Cam, though he'd probably get a rise out of the younger subordinate.

Daniel and Vala continued to splash each other from opposite ends of the deck. Jack could hear them, but really wasn't interested in their teenage courting ritual.

Jack thrust his tong-less hand out at her. "You're a tease." Jack tossed a pleading glance toward Teal'c. "Help me out here, T."

Sam gasped delicately, but Jack could see right through the façade. "I don't know what you're talking about." He couldn't believe she'd denied it with a nearly believable straight face.

"I believe he is talking about your choice of revealing clothing clearly meant to distract O'Neill from the food preparation you implored him to undertake."

Jack grinned triumphantly at Sam and clasped Teal'c on the shoulder. "Thanks, T. I knew you'd understand."

Jack noticed Teal'c carefully keep his eyes on Sam's face.

"Indeed."

TBC

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	4. Part 4

**SYNOPSIS**: Sam has just returned from Atlantis and is vacationing with Jack up at the cabin when they are joined by the rest of SG-1. Jack and Sam learn something about a future only Teal'c remembers. . .

**A Future that will Never Be**

**Part 4**

Sam leaned back against Jack's shoulder and sighed with contentment. She'd missed this while on Atlantis; the team, the friends, the closeness. Everyone in the ancient city had made her welcome but it just hadn't been able to replace the camaraderie she shared with the people sitting around her now.

She tipped the beer bottle to her lips and felt Jack slide his arm around her back. Daniel and Vala were arguing over something on the television Jack insisted the cabin didn't need but had bought anyway. Cam was watching with an amused expression, on guard at a moments notice when Daniel decided to throw something at the frustrating Vala. And Teal'c, when her eyes shifted toward the large, quiet Jaffa, she was surprised to see him looking back at her with an unreadable expression.

"It is good to have you back, Colonel Carter," Teal'c said and Sam had a sudden feeling that he hadn't intended to speak but had done so when she'd noticed him watching her.

The arm around her back tightened. "Damn right it is, T," Jack said from his place beside her.

"What could it hurt anyway?" Vala whined from her cushioned seat (thanks to Daniel's pillow) on the floor.

"I thought you were done nagging Teal'c about it?" Daniel said with an impatient sigh.

Sam leaned into Jack's arms and turned her attention to the pair sitting a few feet away on the floor.

"You know there are two perfectly good chairs you two could be sitting in," Sam said with a grin.

Vala patted her pillow. "I'm fine."

Daniel groaned and pushed himself to his feet. "I'm too old to be sitting on the floor watching this with you."

"It's a classic," Jack piped up just as Sam knew he would. "And you're not old, Spacemonkey."

Daniel nodded in agreement. "Well, not compared to you, I suppose."

Sam tried unsuccessfully to hide a smirk.

Jack's breath was hot against her neck as he whispered, "traitor," in her ear.

Sam could feel his gaze shift and she followed it to the chair across from them. "I'm not the oldest one in the room."

"Indeed you are not, O'Neill," Teal'c said with as much emotion as he would use on a wounded Goa'uld.

Vala leapt to her feet and slid onto the arm of the large chair in which Teal'c was comfortably sitting. "Nope, that'd be Muscles, here."

"He's always been older than any of us, Vala," Daniel said with a sigh.

Sam could see the usually smooth veneer of Daniel's patience begin to fracture. It was normally very entertaining, but as Vala had been discussing this traditionally taboo topic for the last hour, even Sam had begun to tire of hearing about it.

"He not gonna tell ya," Mitchell piped up from across the room. "You've already asked."

"Many. Many times," Daniel muttered.

"I don't see what it could hurt, though. Nothing we do now will affect that future."

Sam was impressed with how quickly the pout formed on Vala's lips and how her eyelids dropped low over her eyes.

She _had_ often wondered what happened during those fifty years they'd been stranded on the Odyssey, but she'd never asked. Not once. She respected Teal'c and his silence on the matter even though nothing he said now would truly affect that future.

"How did you all live without me for so long?" Sam chuckled at the smugness in Jack's voice and she leaned a bit closer to him.

"Amazingly, I don't know." Sarcasm dripped like venom from Daniel's mouth.

Vala's face lit up with a saccharine sweet smile that made Sam's teeth hurt.

"And we never will if Muscles here doesn't tell us." Sam wasn't sure she wanted to know how the former thief could change faces so quickly.

"I cannot."

"Can't or won't?" Vala prompted with a raised eyebrow.

"Guys, don't pressure him," Sam said, knowing she really didn't need to run to Teal'c's defense.

Sam felt an uncomfortable tingle down her spine when Teal'c turned his calm gaze on her. She could tell by the way Jack tensed against her back that he'd noticed something in their friend's eyes before the large man averted them and stood.

"I believe I will take my leave and begin my meditation."

"Teal'c you don't have to go," Cam said quickly. "Vala will behave."

Sam would have laughed at the stern look on Cam's face if the conversation hadn't turned so - unexplainably tense.

"No she won't." Daniel muttered. "Make your escape while you still can, Teal'c."

"That was – odd," Jack said low enough for only Sam to hear. And while she followed the large Jaffa's retreat with her eyes, she had to admit that she agreed.

TBC

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**Notes:** I've had to do the set up for Teal'c, Jack and Sam here for this story because I've wrestled so much with the characterization. I had to have it clear and believable in my own head and to do that, we needed all the set up that has come before.

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	5. Part 5

**Notes:** On the commentary for _Unending,_ Amanda Tapping noted that she and Christopher Judge had played their characters as if they'd eventually entered into some sort of relationship. While, I don't see it on screen, even after listening to the commentary, this story is going to assume _something_ happened between them eventually. 50 years is a long time to be alone.

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**SYNOPSIS**: Sam has just returned from Atlantis and is vacationing with Jack up at the cabin when they are joined by the rest of SG-1. Jack and Sam learn something about a future only Teal'c remembers. . .

**A Future that will Never Be**

**Part 5**

Jack yawned against Sam's neck and lay silent, listening to the relaxing sound of nature chirping through the open window. Sam was asleep. He could feel the rhythmic sound of her breathing where her back was pressed against his chest.

A sound, something manmade, caused Jack to lift his head and stare out the open window. It was dark and he couldn't see anything, but his spidey senses began to tingle and he knew better than to ignore them. He pressed a light kiss against Sam's bare neck before sliding out from behind her.

When she rolled over and looked at him sleepily, he bent down and kissed her silently-questioning lips. What he hadn't been prepared for was the way her arms wound her way around his neck and the suction with which her mouth fastened to his. A low groan reverberated through his chest when their lips popped apart.

"Gotta pee," Jack said with a smidgen of regret, certain now that his current state of arousal wasn't simply due to the call of nature.

"K," Sam said and snuggled into his very warm spot on the bed. She curled herself around his pillow and was asleep before he'd stood back up.

"So much for holding that thought," Jack whispered and silently stepped out of the room.

Once he'd finished his business, Jack quietly exited the cabin in search of that illusive _something_ that had been niggling at his spidey senses. His eyes narrowed when he noticed the lone figure standing motionless on the wooden pier.

Jack made his way over to his friend's side. "T?"

"O'Neill."

"Wanna tell me why it looks like you're about to jump into my fishless pond fully clothed."

Jack felt a tremble of anticipation when Teal'c continued to stare straight ahead. He tried again, this time lacing his words with a bit of humor. "It's a bit chilly to be taking a swim."

"This is a calming place."

Jack looked around and shrugged at Teal'c's statement of the obvious. He'd known that. No other reason he'd be coming up here for as long as he had otherwise. "Yeah."

Jack frowned when the stoic Jaffa said nothing more. He impatiently rolled back and forth on his feet before he couldn't take any more of the silent treatment. "What's goin' on, T?"

"Nothing with which you should concern yourself, O'Neill."

"Now, see, that kinda statement is just the kind of thing I _should_ be concerned with."

"It is nothing with which you can assist."

"Nothing?" Jack prompted with a raised eyebrow.

"No."

Jack shoved his hands into his pockets and waited for a few silent moments before turning away. Just as he got to the end of the dock, he regarded his friend with a concerned look. "You know I'm here if you want to talk about it."

"There is nothing-"

Jack raised a hand and waved it in the air. "Whatever happened in those years no one can remember has you bugged."

Jack swallowed nervously when Teal'c's unwavering eyes pinned his feet to the dock. "So that _is_ it." For some reason, Jack didn't feel all that happy to be right about this thing in particular.

Teal'c's silence was all the confirmation Jack needed.

"What can I do?" He wasn't sure he wanted an answer to that question, but as a friend, he felt honor bound to ask anyway.

"Be happy."

Jack squinted at the uncharacteristic sappy comment and silence fell again.

"I am," Jack whispered more to himself than to Teal'c and then cocked his head, trying to grasp onto the thin thread of clues he'd noticed over the last few days. "We are," he amended slowly.

"Good."

"What happened to Sam on that ship?" Jack asked suddenly. There was something in the tone of Teal'c's voice, in the tenseness of his body that prompted the sudden question.

"I cannot tell you that, O'Neill."

"It's not going to happen again, if you do." He sounded like Vala now, but as much as Jack enjoyed laughing at the former thief's attempt to get Teal'c to talk about it, he knew that she was right. They all did. Up until now, they'd simply respected Teal'c's need to keep what had happened during those 50 years to himself. He was, after all, the only one who remembered that time.

Jack felt trepidation pebble his skin when he heard the soft sigh.

"I know."

Jack searched Teal'c's face but knew the Jaffa would reveal nothing. But Jack knew his friend, and he wasn't blind. After a few moments of silence, his chest clenched as he finally put together all the clues that, to the unobservant, would have gone unnoticed. A slow hiss of breath escaped between suddenly clenched teeth.

"You and Sam . . ." He hesitated to say more.

The answering silence was the only confirmation he needed.

Jack took a step back and ran his hands through his already bed-mussed hair. "Oh God."

"She mourned you deeply."

Jack looked away, back toward the cabin where Sam slept soundly in his bed, at the pond and the water rippling gently with the wind, at the trees whose branches swayed with the breeze, anything to keep his attention from the man who now stood beside him.

"I don't think I should be hearing this." His voice sounded a million miles away. He didn't want to hear any more. In fact, he didn't want to hear as much as he already had.

"She of my future lives in the me of the past, O'Neill."

"Sam," Jack breathed.

"No."

Time travel and all its implications confused the hell out of him but he was sure he had this right. "T, you just said-"

"That future does not exist. In this timeline, it never did."

"Except for you."

Teal'c turned away and Jack could feel his chest clench tightly.

"Shit." Jack ran a hand through his hair again, a nervous gesture Sam had recognized and called him on long ago.

"She mourned you until the day she turned back time."

Jack's eyes snapped toward Teal'c's. Things he had no right to feel; betrayal and resentment couldn't keep him from commenting sharply, "Didn't keep her from-"

"It was a comfort on lonely nights. Nothing more."

Jack shook his head. He _so_ didn't want to hear this.

"She cried for you."

Jack closed his eyes and swallowed thickly. He shouldn't be hearing this. He _really_ didn't want to hear this. He wondered why all of a sudden the previously close-lipped Teal'c obviously felt he needed to.

A few moments of silence passed before Jack found his voice. "Why didn't you say something before now? It's been, what, a year?"

"There was nothing to say. It is only I who retains these memories."

Jack squinted. His head _really_ hurt now, and, even though it had no right, so did his heart.

"I am quite happy with Ishta."

"But?" Jack prompted.

"There is nothing more."

"There is always a but," Jack shot back.

"Not this time, O'Neill."

"Right." Jack shook his head and walked away. He couldn't talk about this anymore. He needed some distance. He'd already gotten more than Teal'c likely ever planned to reveal anyway.

TBC

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**End Notes**: I struggled with this because it took me a long time to get the characters into any sort of believable situation where this conversation might actually happen. I didn't like the end result but my beta loved it and so - here it is.

One more chapter to go.

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	6. Part 6

**SYNOPSIS**: Sam has just returned from Atlantis and is vacationing with Jack up at the cabin when they are joined by the rest of SG-1. Jack and Sam learn something about a future only Teal'c remembers. . .

**A Future that will Never Be**

**Part 6**

Jack stared down at the woman sprawled across both sides of the bed hugging his pillow and tried to look at the situation objectively. It was tough to swallow the green-eyed demon that threatened to send him into an angry rage. He couldn't imagine her lying in another man's arms, didn't want to think about it, even. He just wanted to slide back into bed, hold her and forget that conversation even happened.

He leaned over and whispered none too quietly in her ear. "Hey, sleepy, make room, will ya?"

She rolled over with a low hum, stretched her long limbs and his eyes hungrily followed the sheet as it revealed more and more of her creamy skin with each stretch. He didn't realize he was staring until she reached out and tugged him toward her.

"What are you staring at?" she asked sleepily.

Jack blinked and slid into bed beside her. "Uh. . . "

Her light laugh hit him in the gut and he immediately rolled them over and kissed her with a possessiveness he'd not felt in a long, long time. There was no hesitation as her arms circled his neck and her mouth opened under his. When they parted, her face was flushed, and her fingers toyed with his short cropped hair.

"Mmm, that was nice," she whispered, snuggling into his arms.

He stared dumbly down at her until she looked sleepily up at him.

"Not enough, huh?" she asked amusement in her voice.

"Not by a long shot," he growled and kissed her again. This time, his hands divested her quickly of the shorts and tank top she wore. The rough pads of his fingers caught on her soft skin, but she moaned anyway, encouraging him by draping one leg over his thighs.

Long fingers wrapped around her hip and pulled her closer while she used her own considerable talents to push his sweatpants down his legs. He didn't wait, couldn't wait, until she'd pushed them completely off. Instead, he rolled her onto her back while lifting her leg higher along his hip and groaned when her body accepted his immediate intrusion.

The tightening of the hand in his hair and nails into his shoulder only encouraged a strong, steady rhythm. She succumbed to his complete possession eagerly and panted against his mouth as his hips pinned her to the bed.

****

"What was that all about?" Sam asked as she struggled to catch her breath. She lay snuggled against his side, skin still tingling from the release he'd so quickly and effortlessly coaxed from her body.

She rolled her eyes at the sleepy, smug smile that crossed his face.

"Didn't hear you complaining."

Sam chuckled and pressed her mouth to his damp cheek. "Not likely."

Silence fell for a moment before she lifted her head. He was almost asleep, but that didn't stop her from trailing her tongue over his lips to get an answer.

"Gonna have to wait a few if you want another go," he mumbled while tightening his arms around her.

She chuckled and dropped her forehead to his shoulder. "I'm good."

His eyes popped open and the intense look caused a tremor of desire to race down her spine. "Yeah, you are."

She wrapped an arm (and leg) around him and snuggled in for the night. But her mind wouldn't shut down as much as her exhausted body seemed to be able to and after a few minutes, she lifted her head again.

"Didn't tire you out enough, huh?" he asked, eyes still closed.

"You're still awake, too, you know," came her quick reply. He _was_ still awake. That in itself was strange.

"Mmm."

"Where'd you go earlier?" she asked slowly. She wasn't sure why she was suddenly afraid of the answer.

"To take a leak," came the mumbled reply.

"I heard the door."

"T went out for a moonlit stroll."

Sam was suddenly concerned. "He okay?" A nervous shiver raced down her spine when he hesitated. "Jack?"

"He's fine."

Sam squinted at his face in the darkness. His eyes were still closed but the corner of his mouth had twitched, a clear indicator that he was holding back something she probably should know.

"Jack." She put just enough annoyed impatience in the name to cause his eyes to pop open. "What's going on?"

"Nothin'."

Sam didn't believe him. Though she didn't know why. They all had extra sensory perception when it came to members of their team, and there was something just not quite right about tonight. Vala's prodding hadn't really helped either.

Sam sat up suddenly. "He told you something."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Jack tried to look innocent but Sam could recognize when he was hedging.

"What'd he tell you?"

Sam scowled when he didn't answer but when she moved to get out of bed his hand encircled her wrist and halted her escape.

"Jack."

"He told me in confidence."

"And now you're going to tell me."

Sam wasn't prepared for him to release her wrist and sink back onto the bed with a defeated look. It concerned her and she quickly molded herself to his side and squeezed his hand. "Jack, what's going on?"

"I really don't know."

"Jack."

"He said something, yes, but it wasn't something I wanted to hear." When he looked at her, his eyes held a pain she hadn't seen in a long time. Not since they'd been trapped behind that damn force field. "And you sure as hell don't want to hear it either."

"Judging by your reaction, it sounds like I probably should," she said quietly.

She noticed him swallow deeply and look away and she squeezed his hand again in support – of what, she didn't know, but whatever it was that Teal'c had told him hadn't been good. Just when she thought he'd fallen asleep, he turned back to her.

"You and T had a thing."

His voice was so soft and so stricken she wasn't sure if she'd heard him right.

"What?"

"Don't make me repeat it."

Sam shook her head. She couldn't have heard him right. "Jack . . .that – that can't be right."

"Fifty years is a long time."

The sadness in his voice made her chest clench.

"Are you sure?"

"He didn't say much, Sam."

Sam rolled her eyes. Men. "Yeah, you men aren't much good at that sort of thing."

"This thing in particular isn't something anyone would leap to discuss."

Sam inhaled deeply and leaned down to press a kiss to his cheek. "This doesn't change anything between us, you know that, right?"

She could see his eye twitch. He didn't know it, even though he should. The sudden and frantic sex earlier now made perfect sense. She leaned forward and put all her love and affection into one hot, searing kiss. "I love you, Jack."

When his arms came instantly around her, she let him pull her close. If he needed to feel secure in this relationship, she'd do everything she could to make him feel that way. He'd be doing the same for her after she was done speaking with Teal'c. She opened her mouth and let him plunder it with his tongue, all the while clutching him tightly.

When they parted, breathless, he nuzzled her cheek with his nose. "Yeah."

She hesitated for only a moment before whispering, "You know I need to go talk to him."

"Yeah."

"Wait here for me?" she asked, unsure if she could really ask this of him.

His eyes searched hers and she suddenly found herself not wanting to leave the comfort and security of his arms. But this was something she had to do.

"Yeah."

She leaned over and kissed him again, hard, deeply. "I'll be back." When she moved to pull away, he brought her back into his arms and kissed her so possessively that her toes curled.

***

Sam wasn't surprised to find Teal'c on the dock, sitting in his customary Kel'no'reem position. She pulled Jack's sweatshirt tighter around her and pushed forward, even as her nervousness grew. They needed to have this conversation now, before everyone woke up for the day. She could already see tiny slivers of light penetrating the darkness of the sky.

"He told you." There was no accusation in his tone, only a statement of fact.

"Did you think he wouldn't?" Sam asked as she stopped beside him.

"I wish he had not felt the need."

She pursed her lips and sighed softly. "I'm sorry, Teal'c."

"There is no shame in love."

"I love Jack." And she knew it now more than ever. If she'd had a relationship with Teal'c sometime during that fifty years of isolation, she knew it wouldn't have been quick – or easy.

"I know." She thought she could detect a bit of sadness in his voice, but she couldn't be sure.

"And you love Ishta."

"Yes."

"But those years that only you can remember . . ." she prompted.

"As I told O'Neill, the woman of that future resides in the me of the past."

"But that woman was me." She, of any of them, best understood time travel, but this was stretching that understanding of it a bit too much for her liking.

"No."

"Teal'c-"

He stood suddenly and Sam resisted the instinctual reaction to back away. "She had your face but you do not have her memories."

Sam held her breath. Memories. Of the loneliness and despair she surely would have felt trapped on a ship so far away from Jack. Trapped with no hope of getting back to her burgeoning relationship with him.

"Will you tell me about her?" Sam asked softly.

"I do not believe that would be wise."

"Why?"

Teal'c cocked his head in such a way that she nearly laughed. Of all of them, she knew best the repercussions of revealing something learned through time travel.

"I wish to keep those memories pure."

And that, Sam realized, was the true reason for his silence. It wasn't about affecting the future. It was a future that no longer existed. It never would. They had changed it when her future self had figured out a way to send them back in time.

"I understand." And she truly did.

He nodded slowly. "Yes. I believe you do."

Sam reached out and gently touched his arm, pleased that she felt no tension there, no need to pull away from her concern.

He looked up at the stars, one by one fading in the growing morning light, and smiled. "Welcome home, Colonel Carter."

Sam glanced back at Jack, who stood by the door rubbing his hands through his sleep-mussed hair, and then back up at the sky. She knew where to look; where she'd been for the last year on Atlantis and where she'd been during those fifty that only Teal'c could remember.

"Thank you, Teal'c. It's good to be home."

END

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Thanks for following along with this little tale. If you liked it, or even if you didn't, leave a review and let me know!


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